batavia

A benefit for the family of the late Marie Fragnito will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, at the Travelodge in Batavia.

Marie ("My My") was a lifelong Batavia resident who worked most recently at the ARC. She is survived by her daughter, Vanessa Aquino, three granddaughters, her mother, Josie Fragnito, brother, Joe, and sister, Patty.

Tickets for admission to the event can be purchased pre-sale at the Enchanted Florist on East Main Street downtown and Salvania’s Restaurant, located at 41 Jackson St., for $20 or at the door for $25.

Some of the highlights of the benefit will be a Chinese auction with prizes that have been donated by the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bisons and Darien Lake, among other personal donations.

Food will be included with admission and a cash bar will be provided.

Jim Catino’s band will be performing and her family members, friends and coworkers will be in attendance.

For more information or to purchase your pre-sale tickets, please contact the event organizer, Alexis C. Banks, directly at 716-480-0905.

A person was struck by a vehicle in the parking lot of Walmart, sustained minor injuries and is now inside the store near the customer service area. Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding to the store on Veterans Memorial Drive.

UPDATE 1:46 p.m.: The car is only described as "a small four-door" and it's near the main entrance. The victim reportedly knows the driver.

UPDATE 1:53 p.m.: Town of Batavia fire is told to stand down.

UPDATE 1:59 p.m.: The pedestrian is being transported to UMMC.

UPDATE 2:06 p.m.: The victim is a female who was struck in the back of the knee by a vehicle backing out of a parking spot.

UPDATE 4:06 p.m.: The "victim" was later arrested a charge of falsely reporting an incident, which is a Class A misdemeanor. She is identified in an arrest report as Brandi L. Gimlin, 19, of Jerome Place in the city. State Police Sgt. Ron Lobur said the arrest was made after a review of Walmart's video, which showed she was not in proximity of the sedan when it backed out of the parking space. He also said Gimlin subsequently admitted that she made up the story. Troopers, firefighters and medics responded to the initial call.

Hannah Marie Traub, 30, of West Kendall Road, Kendall, is charged with petit larceny. Traub is accused of stealing metal snow fence posts that are owned by the Oakfield Highway Department from a location on Lewiston Road, Oakfield.

Justin Terrance Lee Abbott, 23, of Denrose Drive, Amherst, and Michael T. Robb, 21, of Condon Avenue, Buffalo, are charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Abbott and Robb were in a vehicle stopped for an alleged traffic violation on Quaker Hill Road, Elba, at 1:11 a.m. Wednesday by Deputy James Diehl. Abbott was issued an appearance ticket and Robb was turned over to North Tonawanda PD on an arrest warrant.

Tresia DonMarie Brace, 19, of Crimson Heights Street, Albion, is charged with petit larceny. Brace is accused of shoplifting at Kmart. Brace allegedly fled from store security after being confronted and was later located at Subway.

Terryl Kiev Coombs, 21, and Donte Angel Meredith, 22, both of Oak Street, Batavia, are charged with petit larceny. Coombs and Meredith are accused of stealing $180 in DVDs from Walmart.

A freezing rain advisory remains in effect until 6 p.m. today and a flood watch is in effect through 5 p.m., Friday.

The Tonawanda Creek is already flowing near the top of its banks.

Photo: Branch on a tree on Jackson Street.

Police believe they've solved a burglary from 2008, arresting a man yesterday who was initially indicted in December as 'John Doe' based on a DNA profile.

Samuel G. Malone, 27, of 36 Walnut St., Batavia, is facing a new charge of burglary, 3rd.

Malone was arraigned in City Court after appearing in County Court on three burglary charges that investigators believe he committed because his DNA allegedly matches the DNA found at burglary more than four years ago.

The latest charge stems from a break-in at Clor's Meat Market when the business was located at 29 Brooklyn Ave., Batavia.

The perpetrator had broken into the building Aug. 20, 2008, and taken a cash register. The register was later located by maintenance workers broken and empty in Williams Park.

Late Wednesday night, a firefighter gave Dr. David Paul a tour of his home at 33 Ross St., Batavia, so he could survey the damage.

A fire that had started in the basement and wormed its way up to the top level of the house leading to extensive fire, smoke and water damage.

But the good news is that the structure largely remains intact.

"I'm glad I have good insurance," Paul said.

Paul purchased the stately home some 30 yeas ago, restored it and in the late 1980s, the house won a Landmark Society award.

"I was at my office in Buffalo and my daughter called me as said the house is on fire," Paul said. "I shot right back here. By the time I got here, the fire department and outlying departments were here and taking care of it. I didn't see any flames, but it was really smoking and they were actively working on it."

Along with City fire, departments from Elba, Alexander and the Town of Batavia rushed to the scene.

A quick response by all concerned helped save the house.

The fire appears to have started in the basement, though Chief Jim Maxwell said the fire is still under investigation and no cause has yet been determined.

The house was built in 1902 and used balloon construction, meaning the exterior walls are open from basement to ceiling, making it easy for flames to jump from floor to floor.

Typically, balloon construction homes become fully engulfed rather quickly, but firefighters were able to contain the fire and then work on isolating hot spots on the upper floors.

"I think they did an excellent job," Paul said. "They were here right away. They were considerate. It's a mess inside, but they seemed to control what they needed to do."

The fire was reported at 4:19 p.m. as smoke coming from the basement. By the time the first firefighters were on scene, flames were shooting out of two basement windows.

"We had a good interior attack by everyone involved here," Chief Maxwell said.

Genesee County Emergency Management and Darien fire also assisted at the scene.

Dr. Paul noted that usually he's the one donating to the Red Cross. Tonight he was grateful for a cup of coffee from the agency.

Maxwell said it will take some time to determine the cause of the fire because of the heavy damage to the basement. He noted there were reports of lightning strikes in the area prior to the fire being reported.

To purchase prints of these photos, click here.

This is one of a series of articles we will run over the next three days highlighting the winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards for 2012. The awards gala is Saturday evening at the Clarion Hotel.

St. Joseph School has been around since 1873 and currently has an enrollment of 300 students from pre-K through eighth grade. The Catholic elementary school employes 14 full-time teachers, four part-time teachers, six full-time aides, six support staff and two school nurses.

Karen Green has been a part of St. Joe's school for 17 years. She started out teaching first and second grade and has been the school's principal for the last seven years. She has witnessed much change in those 17 years. However, the school's mission of teaching faith, academics and service has always remained the same.

Green says, "We are an option for families that are looking for something different. If they want that Catholic and Christian-centered education we are here to give that to them."

She says she is very proud of St. Joseph students. Their work habits, their character and how they treat each other make the teachers' jobs very easy.

Academics and service are what make St. Joseph students stand out.

"I often hear from high-school teachers and administrators that they love getting St. Joe's kids, they have good work habits and they participate in class. Knowing that they leave here doing that is a great feeling," Green says.

Chad Zambito, who has been working at St. Joseph's for the past year running their marketing campaign, nominated the school for the special recognition award. After walking through the halls of the school and seeing the kids and their families, Zambito realized that it was different at St. Joe's. It was a special place.

"They have a strong tradition of supporting the community while struggling to make ends meet," Zambito says. "The school continues to find ways to expand programs like advanced math and sciences along with athletics and music while other institutions have been cutting their programs."

St. Joe's gets very little funding from the state.Tuition and enrollment are very important. "It's what we are used to, we have always done more with less," Green says. 

The parents also play an important role. They help with raising funds by volunteering to work at Friday night bingo, the Mammoth sale, fruit sale, Walk-a-thon, Popcorn Ball, and the Penny Carnival. According to Green, "Those big events give us enough money so that we can give our kids and teachers extras like iPads and SMART Boards to work with. We've tried to make the technology really important here and I think that's how we stay afloat."     

In Genesee County, St. Joseph School is the last remaining Catholic elementary school. St. Mary's closed in 2004 and St. Anthony's in 2006. 

Last year, with the closing of Holy Family School in Le Roy, St. Joseph School had to deal with an influx of about 100 students. "We had a couple of tough months over the summer last year trying to prepare," Green says. "We had mixed feelings and it was bittersweet, we felt bad their school had to close and we know what it would have been like and it very well could have been us put in that position." 

St. Joe's hired six aides and two teachers to accommodate the larger class size. Next year they will be looking for a part-time teacher for their Earth Science class at the middle-school level. 

Looking forward to the 2013-14 school year, the first, third and fourth grades are full and have a waiting list. Kindergarten is filling up fast with only five spaces open. At the middle-school level, sixth, seventh and eighth grades are all open.

Parents who have enrolled their children in 3- and 4-year-old preschool can take advantage of the school's Wrap Around Program which was started two years ago. Green says this program has taken off. It's for parents who need an affordable safe place to take their kids after the half day pre-school session.  

Green says her group of teachers, aides and support staff are amazing. They go above and beyond every day. Some run the After School Program, some are involved in extracurricular activities like Drama Club and Art Class and all are available after school each day to provide support for students and parents.

"It takes a special person to work here, to put that much time and dedication in and they do it on a daily basis. The salary is not like in the public school systems," Green said.

Each school year there will always be challenges. Green thinks that is not always a bad thing. 

"St. Joseph School will always be looking to improve in every aspect," she says. "We just don't want to sit back and say things are working well the way they are. You have to always be looking forward to the future. We are always trying to think ahead to make our school stronger and I think that's why we continue to do what we do here." 

For more information on St. Joseph School at 2 Summit St. in Batavia call 585-343-6154 or check out their Web site at www.sjsbatavia.org/

Photos by Howard Owens.

Karen Green

This is the first of a series of articles we will run over the next three days highlighting the winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards for 2012. The awards gala is Saturday evening at the Clarion Hotel.

When Barb Toal went on a sightseeing trip to Rome, Italy, with her sister six years ago, she sat in a beautiful garden across from the Colosseum to rest for a few minutes. At the time she had no idea what the garden was, only that it was a wonderful peaceful spot to sit and take a break.

Fast forward two years later to 2009.

Barb is sitting in the living room of Paula Savage, president of the International Peace Garden Association, who is trying to convince Barb to help set up an International Peace Garden commemorating the War of 1812 in the City of Batavia.

As the two women sat discussing the project, Paula had a laptop on the coffee table running pictures of International Peace Gardens from around the world. Barb froze when she saw a photo of the beautiful garden she remembered sitting in a few years earlier on her trip to Rome.

After scrolling through a few more of Paula's photoss, Barb recognized another garden she visited the following year after her trip to Italy -- in Dublin, Ireland.

"It's pretty ironic. I've been to two of them now. This is a no-brainer. I gotta get involved," Toal said.

Being president of the Holland Land Office Museum at the time, she thought this would be good use for the vacant land to the east of the museum and a good way to bring more people in to visit the Holland Land Office."This is a great fit, a perfect fit," Toal thought. The idea was now planted.

She then solicited the help of longtime friend Carol Grasso. The two have been friends since ninth grade and both graduated from Pembroke High School together.

"I just knew I had to be a part of it," Grasso says.

"This community, we knew since we were little, would come together to make this happen," Toal added.

Armed with seven solid volunteers, the group now referred to as "Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden" went to work. After four years of meetings, fundraising, and solicitations, they were ready to make the garden a reality.  

Running into many obstacles along the way, the project had to be accomplished one day at time. The electric wiring and digging through the base of Walnut Street and the old bridge was a stopper.

"After the electric meeting we were whipped. We thought, 'we can't do this and it's not gonna happen,' Toal said. It was like climbing a mountain, I slipped went down 10 notches then had to go up another 10 again." She said she learned a lot about patience over those four years.

Toal said they knew what they had to do, but had no money. It was amazing how the community came out to help. There were 15 landscaping trucks in the prime season that showed up and volunteered to revamp the once-barren land.

Martin Dilcher, of Dilcher's Excavating, who nominated the group for the award, was driving by the work in progress one day and spotted Barb using a jackhammer. She was making her way through layers of old buildings and solid rock to create a 5-foot hole in the ground for the electric and base for the globe. Dilcher yelled out to her, "What are you trying to do kill yourself ?" Dilcher showed up at 9 a.m. the next morning with a backhoe to help out.

When Toal needed someone to make the giant metal globe she turned to her neighbor Rob Barone who is a welder. He didn't know what she really wanted.

Toal made a trip to BJ's Wholesale and purchased a glass globe in a box and showed it to Barone. She also handed over a few pictures of one located in the Town of Lima. Barone then solicited the help of Patrick Waite, and together they created the globe that is currently on display at the Garden.

According to Grasso, "There were a lot of ups and downs. We didn't think we were going to make it, especially moneywise, but we did it."

She says people can't wait to help out and fund-raise now.

The Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden will be holding their third annual fundraiser dinner to be held at Terry Hills April 27th. They are planning a fashion show and are honoring Joe Gerace and Carolyn Pratt this year.

May 11th they will be having a birthday party and celebrate by raising the 23 flags for the year. It will be a community day from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Everyone is welcome to come out and join in the festivities.  

The Batavia Peace Garden commemorating the War of 1812 is stop number 13 of 25 on a 600-mile trail that runs through Canada and the United States. Batavia became the rallying point in the War of 1812. British forces burned 200 homes in Youngstown, many families then relocated to the Batavia area to take shelter.

Three more gardens were added to the trail last year. All are located in the Thousand Islands region of New York State. Brussels, Belgium, will be the location of the next garden. It will be created in 2014.

Toal says the group has plans on expanding the Batavia Garden in 2014. They want to extend the grounds to include the area behind the Genesee County Courts facility near the falls of the Tonawanda Creek. They will add more flags and possibly a gazebo.

Toal, who is now retired, says she is more busy now being president of the Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden. She says, "It hasn't been a hard road, just a long road to get to this point."

"To think what we've done in a couple of years, it's humbling to think we got this award," Grasso says. "It's was worth every drop of sweat that we had. All the hard work, the back-breaking digging. It's amazing."  

Anyone interested in buying a brick or path stone can contact Barb Toal at 585-344-2548 or e-mail her at btoal@ rochester.rr.com.

The group also has a new Web site, bataviapeacegarden.org.

Photo by Howard Owens. From left, Barb Toal, Mary Ellen Wilber, Carol Grasso, and Berneda Scoins.

A possible structure fire is reported at 33 Ross St. in the city. The fourth platoon is called into headquarters and city firefighters are on scene. National Grid is called.

UPDATE 4:29 p.m.: The fourth platoon is now called to the scene along with the second platoon.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: This is a working structure fire. Occupants are out of the house.

UPDATE 4:31 p.m.: The Town of Batavia Fire Department is placed on standby. You can smell the smoke Downtown.

UPDATE 4:33 p.m.: Elba Rescue and Alexander's Fast Team are called to provide mutual aid and the city's third platoon is requested as well. Firefighters are still trying to gain access to the basement, which is where the blaze began.

UPDATE 4:36 p.m.: Ross at Main Street will be completely shut down to traffic.

UPDATE 4:38 p.m.: Flames are showing at the north side of the basement.

UPDATE 4:46 p.m.: Two Mercy ambulances are called to stage at the scene. Entry has been made to the basement.

UPDATE 4:52 p.m.: National Grid has shut off power at the house. Ladders will be employed on all four sides of the house.

UPDATE 4:59 p.m.: Howard, who is at the scene, said the commander reports they "are starting to get a handle" on the fire.

UPDATE 5:12 p.m.: The fire is out in the basement.

UPDATE 5:29 p.m.: Now the basement is clear, too.

UPDATE 5:32 p.m.: The house is owned by Dr. David Paul. It is a historic structure and previously received an award from the Genesee County Landmark Society.

UPDATE 6:05 p.m.: There's only a small amount of smoke coming from the house at this point. Firefighters are going to use hand tools to open up the attic. A company is called to board up the house.

UPDATE 6:10 p.m.: Command reports the fire is under control.

UPDATE 6:36 p.m.: Darien fire's Cascade System is requested. This is portable equipment used to refill backpack oxygen air canisters.

UPDATE 8:39 p.m.: City Ladder 15 and Engine 11 are returning to quarters. Mutual aid responders have gone back into service with the exception of Town of Batavia's standby unit, which will be released momentarily when the city's crews return to the fire hall. City Engine 12 will remain on scene to finish up the detail.

Shortly after the National Weather Service sent out an alert on a heavy thunderstorm moving into Genesee County, the first thunderclaps could be heard and then a report came in of a transformer at Clinton and East Main streets, Batavia, blowing out.

Lines are arcing and the traffic light at the intersection has stopped working.

City fire is in route.

The weather service said the storm will produce thunder and dime-size hail.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of three Batavia High School softball players alleges that the varsity softball field there is substandard, but Section V officials and area softball coaches say the field isn't anything out of the ordinary.

Yes, it's not Dwyer Stadium, where the boys play baseball, but no coach has ever complained about the facilities at BHS, according to Bob Huber, chairman of the Section V girls softball committee.

In fact, the BHS has been used previously for neutral-ground games during early Section V playoff rounds.

Representing the girls in the suit is the Empire Justice Center out of Rochester.

The suit alleges a violation of Title IX, a federal law in place since 1972 mandating equal opportunity in public school sports.

According to the suit, the girls have been denied their rights under Title IX because the girl's softball field is not comparable to Dwyer Stadium.

Dwyer was built nearly 20 years ago at a cost of $3 million, which was financed by state grants and a city bond. The school district did not participate in its construction or financing.

The Batavia Muckdogs, a short-season Class A team affiliated with the Miami Marlins and owned primarily by the community, plays at Dwyer from June to September. During the spring, the field is open to high school and college teams.

For high school games, the Muckdogs collect $175 per game (Notre Dame plays at Dwyer as well).

Muckdogs General Manager Travis Sick said the $175 fee barely covers the cost of making the field available to high school teams.

"It's a community service and the city owns the stadium," Sick said. "We're happy to make it available."

The suit says the facilities are unequal because the girls field doesn't have 2,200 covered grandstand seats, nor lightning for night games, a ticket booth, an outfield fence, an electronic scoreboard, press box, covered dugouts, concession stand and bullpens.

Of course, the boys don't use all those amenities at Dwyer. Typically, fewer than 200 people attend a high school game.

CORRECTION: Only Notre Dame boys play night games at Dwyer -- twice a year.

But no high school games involve selling tickets and the concession stands are never open during high school games.

Dwyer is also one of the most cavernous professional stadiums around with 330 feet from home plate down each line. Few high school players can hit a home run over Dwyer's 12-foot-high outfield walls.

The suit alleges the girls playing at BHS can't hit-out-of-the-park home runs because there is no fence.

There is no fence at BHS because the outfield overlaps with a soccer field.

Also, according to the suit the "infield is covered with pebble-sized gravel mixed with some dirt, making it dangerous and painful for players to slide."

Ron Funke, athletic director and girls softball coach with Pembroke HS, and a member of the Section V committee, said the Batavia field is the same quality typical not only of girls fields, but boys fields, throughout Section V.

It's a special infield mix commonly used on softball and baseball fields, he said.

The suit states, "The infield material makes it harder for the players to play at their most competitive level and has given them a reputation in their league for having the worst field."

But both Funke and Huber said they've never heard complaints about Batavia's field and Funke said he thinks it's a fine place to play.

Funke indicated he was a little baffled by the suit.

"I don't know where else they'd play," Funke said. "There isn’t anything for softball other than GCC and there isn’t another facility like Dwyer for the girls to play in, and GCC has their own games to play."

The school distirct did manage to schedule four of the girls' 11 home games this season at GCC.

But even GCC's field doesn't have the amenities of Dwyer.

We called the Empire Justice center to respond to some of these issues, but the attorney handling the case is not giving interviews. We were told the center would issue a written statement for all media at a later time.

While the suit alleges that many girls fields in "the league" have fences, dugouts and seating, both Huber and Funke said it's really a mixed bag. There are several teams without fences, they said.

Both said there are also some boys' teams in Section V that play on fields without dugouts and bullpens.

The suit has multiple paragraphs covering the lack of night lightning for girls softball, noting that night games "have a big-league quality not associated with day games."

There are never night high school games played at Dwyer because night lighting is expensive.

The school district included proposed upgrades to the girls' field as part of a bond measure rejected by voters in 2011, and are including $110,000 in funding for upgrades in a bond measure that will go before voters next month.

School officials say, and the suit acknowledges, that Empire Justice attorneys were aware of the proposed bond measure before filing the lawsuit.

The suit complains that if the bond passes, improvements will only cover dugouts, scoreboard and a fence, and that the changes won't take place prior to the 2013 season.

The students named as plaintiffs in the suit are Rebecca Myers, 14, who's a student at Batavia Middle School, Elizabeth Myers, 17, a junior and captain of the team, and Kimberly Walsh, 17 and a senior.

The class-action suit seeks relief for all current and future girl softball players at BHS.

Currently, the school has no JV softball team because of a lack of participating students. In order to field a team for the 2013 season, the team includes two seventh-grade students and one eighth-grade student.

Asked if he was concerned that the district could go to the expense of upgrading the facilities and dealing with the lawsuit only to find that in a season or two, there will be no softball team due to lack of participation, Superintendent Chris Dailey said he is not concerned.

Asked if the district has considered moving the boys out of Dwyer and to one of the district's three baseball fields, Dailey said, "We're always thinking."

Dailey said he doesn't have an estimate yet on how much it will cost the district to respond to the suit.

If the cost of upgrades to the softball field is $110,000, the district will take nearly 45 years at $175 per game to pay $110,000 for the boys to play at Dwyer.

We don't often get fog in Genesee County, but this morning Batavia looked a bit like London with a dense fog that cut visibility to about a half mile.

The National Weather Service said the fog is the result of recent rains and warned commuters to drive with caution. According to WBTA traffic reports, traffic is slow going into Rochester.

The fog should lift by midmorning.

More rain is expected tonight and there's a chance of snow Friday night.

A car plowed into a parked vehicle at East Main Street Road and Broadlawn Avenue in the Town of Batavia. The volunteer fire department and Sheriff's deputies are responding. A Mercy medic on scene reports no injuries.

UPDATE 8:39 p.m.: Town of Batavia Fire Department is told to return to quarters and is now in service.

The way Damian Ulatowski sees it a retail project should be able to stand on its own without taxpayers helping foot the bill to open a new store.

"I'm just kind of old-fashioned that way," said the Town of Clay supervisor. "If you believe in your project, you should be able to reap the rewards if it succeeds. If it fails, you should suffer the consequences as well. It shouldn't be up to the taxpayers to shoulder the burden. I just guess that's the way I was raised.

"We're rather conservative here," he added.

Ulatowski has been on the town board for 13 years and he's seen a lot of retail development within the town's borders during that time.

None of it, he said, has been built with a single dime in tax breaks.

In Clay, you will find dozens of Big Box retailers -- Walmart, Lowe's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, Kohl's, Petsmart, Sam's Club, Barnes & Noble and even Wegmans.

"These businesses can survive without tax breaks but we've trained them that they can't," Uratowski said. "Clay is one of the most commercially built locations in all of Onondaga County. We have several business complexes. All of them are thriving. No stores are closing. None of them got any kind of subsidy."

One of the largest retail developers in Clay is COR Development, the Fayetteville-based company that is also responsible for Batavia Towne Center.

COR's two centers in Clay contain more than 700,000 square feet, with the first and largest development starting the permiting process in 2005, about two years before Batavia Towne Center.

COR, according to Genesee County Economic Development Center records, was promised $4.6 million in tax abatements to complete Batavia Towne Center, including a 10-year PILOT that is not yet expired (not all of the tax savings have been realized yet). 

Now COR is seeking nearly $1 million in additional tax breaks, ostensibly to help attract Dick's Sporting Goods and possibly a T.J. Maxx to Batavia, as well as at least one other retailer.

A public hearing will be required before the GCEDC board can vote on the incentive package, because under recently reenacted state law, retail projects cannot receive tax breaks unless there is a finding that the project is a tourist destination or fills retail needs not being met locally.

A date for the public hearing has not yet been set.

While COR apparently doesn't always need tax incentives to build, lease and sell its construction projects, the company has accepted at least $9 million in such incentives from three IDAs in the state, according to records obtained by The Batavian from the Authorities Budget Office.

The ABO did a search for "COR" (to capture possible subsidiary names that also use the COR name) as well as COR's business address to check for IDA handouts.

It's possible not all of COR's IDA-approved subsidies turned up in the search.

It apparently also left out projects where COR sold off assets. With Batavia Towne Center, for example, COR sold the Target property to the Target company, and those subsidies are not reflected in the ABO spreadsheet.

Besides Batavia Towne Center, COR has received IDA assistance for:

• A $42 million apartment complex in Watertown. There was no PILOT on the project, but COR did receive $2.2 million exemption on state and local sales tax for construction materials. The project was approved in 2012.
• On a $6.7 million retail project on Route 5 in Fayetteville, COR was approved for tax incentives in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 totalling $3.5 million.
• Also in Fayetteville, in 2009, COR received $1.2 million in breaks on a 69,000-square-foot manufacturing and research facility for Sensis Corp.
• COR also built in Fayetteville a 24,467-square-foot office complex for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. at a cost of $3.7 millon and received $406,000.

Besides Clay, other COR retail projects that don't show up in the ABO report are center's in Canandaigua, Latham, New Hartford, Erwin and Webster (COR's creative naming for all of these projects tend to be some variation of "Towne Center").

It's possible some of those projects received local tax assistance -- assistance that didn't go through an IDA (Industrial Development Agency, such as GCEDC) and therefore doesn't show up in the ABO report.

That's case in Webster where Town Supervisor Ron Nesbitt said he uses Section 485-b of the state's real estate code to grant tax breaks.

While the code allows up to 50 percent of a property's assessed value to be forgiven each year (decreasing over the years in increments of 5 percent), Nesbitt said he only grants relief on 20 percent of assessed value, which decreases in increments of 2 percent per year.

That's 20 percent off the entire assessed value, not just on the increase in assessed value, as in the standard PILOT granted by GCEDC. A project that begins with an assessed value of $200,000 and then jumps in value by $1 million after development will be taxed on 80 percent of the entire $1.2 million of assessed value.

Because it's not an IDA-sponsored tax break, the agreement only covers Webster's property taxes, not Monroe County or school district taxes.

Nesbitt made it clear, he's no fan of the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA). If a developer receives help from COMIDA, the company might find tough sledding in Webster.

"I have control over that building permit," Nesbitt said. "I'm not saying I'm playing hard ball, but I have control over the building permit and just how fast it goes through. You've got to remember, somebody is making a lot of money off these tax breaks."

Businesses should pay their fair share of taxes, Nesbitt said. They consume the local services, they should pay. He thinks IDA tax breaks give away too much.

"The pot is getting smaller and smaller," he said.

The Webster tax rate is $4.33 per thousand.

"The town tax isn't killing me," he said. "It's the school tax that's eating me up."

A developer in Webster would need to strike a separate deal with the school district since there's no IDA involved. The school tax is $22.90 per thousand.

Nesbitt said he even carries out his everybody-pays-a-fair-share philosophy to nonprofit agencies.

If a nonprofit wants to build in Webster, they need to agree to pay town taxes.

"I sit down with the president or CEO and I tell them, if you're not going to use any police service, any ambulance service or any other service, you don't have to pay a tax," Nesbitt said. "If you're going to use services, you pay the town tax."

Nesbitt said even with his hard line on tax breaks, companies still build in Webster.

As for Batavia Towne Center being a tourist destination, the City of Batavia has recently received a new study by W-ZHA, LLC, that indicates the center does fulfill one of the legal definitions of a "tourist destination." It is bringing in visitors from outside the city and town, but part of the justification for a tourist destination is spin-off spending.

That doesn't seem to be happening, according to the report. Shoppers are not stopping for meals at Batavia's restaurants.

Town and city residents alone should generate about $192 million in retail spending, but sales annually exceed $231 million, a gain of $39 million above what the city and town should generate.

"Both the town and the city are shopping destinations," the report states.

 How much of that $39 million comes from outside the county is unclear.

With the additional visitors for retail, the county's eating and drinking sales potential is $89 million. Local restaurants and bars are getting only about $59 million of that market, according to the report.

Last year, a study released by the consultants for czb found that the city was losing about $12 million in annual restaurant spending to surrounding counties.

The full W-ZHA report will be released at a later date.

​Batavia Board of Education meeting highlights from the Batavia City School District (BCSD) Board of Education meeting on April 8, include news and updates about the following:

• Preliminary Budget Update

• School-to-Work Update

• Bu​siness Education Alliance Presentation

Preliminary Budget Update

Business Administrator Scott Rozanski brought the Board up to date on work being done on the preliminary budget proposal for the 2013-2014 school year.

As relayed at a previous Board meeting by Superintendent of Schools Chris Dailey, the Board advocated for containing any budget increase to 2 percent or less, but the initial “rollover” budget one that maintained but did not add any new expenditures -- would have resulted in a 4.26-percent increase to the budget and a consequent 6.11-percent increase in the tax levy primarily due to significant increases in pension and employee health care.

Furthermore, he noted that the calculation for our district’s Property Tax Cap Levy* equals a cap limited to a 5.51-percent increase (*As has been widely reported, the Property Tax Cap Levy, popularly called “the 2-percent tax cap,” is actually calculated by using the State’s eight-step formula then adding items that the State has identified as exempt from the restriction. If a district’s proposed budget falls at or below this calculated limit, passage of their budget requires 50-percent voter approval. If a proposal exceeds the calculated limit, passage requires 60-percent voter approval.) Our district’s tax cap of a 5.51-percent increase would mean an estimated tax increase of $1.27 per thousand dollars of assessed value or, on an $80,000 home, an annual tax increase of $101.

The draft summary presented to the Board on 3/26/13 by Rozanski noted changes resulting from six teacher retirements, two clerical retirements, and the elimination of a proposed position for a School Resource Officer that would have been partially funded by the City of Batavia and partially funded by the School District. That budget proposal came to $41,409,757, and carried a tax levy increase of 3.98 percent.

The current (4/8/13) preliminary summary presented to the Board included increased revenue of $930,000 from the State, primarily in restored State Aid, but also included additional expenditures of $571,000 -- approximately $121,000 in lost federal grants as well as an estimated $450,000 in additional expenses for the three employee contracts which are in the process of being negotiated.

The final figures for this proposal are: an expenditure total of $41,981,241 (up $1,894,509 or 4.73 percent from 2012-2013); a revenue total of $21,602,411 (up $1,897,680 or 9.63 percent from 2012-2013); an appropriated fund balance of $1,875,660 (down $365,965 or 16.33 percent from 2012-2013); and a tax levy of $18,503,170 (up $362,794 or 2 percent from 2012-2013).

“This budget proposal puts us at a 2-percent cap, which was the Board’s goal, rather than a 5.51-percent cap, which is what the State calculations permitted, and the elimination of jobs is not necessary,” Dailey said.

In addition, he noted, it preserves the funding for transportation so that all pre-kindergarten through first grade students will be eligible for bussing, which has been identified as a safety concern.

As a reminder, important dates related to the May vote include the following: Board of Education candidate petitions became available on March 12 and must be returned by April 24. Beginning May 6, copies of the proposed budget for 2013-2014 will be available in these Batavia locations: the Administration Offices (260 State St.), Batavia High School main office (260 State St.), Batavia Middle School main office (96 Ross St.), John Kennedy Intermediate School main office (166 Vine St.), Jackson Primary School main office (411 S. Jackson St.), and Richmond Memorial Library (19 Ross St.).

Organizations are encouraged to request a presentation of the proposal by calling the Superintendent’s Office (343-2480, ext. 1000). Presentations can be scheduled for after May 6, which is when the official proposal will be adopted by the Board.

The public hearing for the vote on the proposed budget will be at 7 p.m. May 14, in the High School library. The Budget Vote and Elections will be May 21 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with polls open at Batavia High School (260 State St.) and John Kennedy Intermediate School (166 Vine St.).

Absentee Ballot voting is also permitted, and absentee ballots will be available during school business hours from the District Clerk from April 24 through May 14. April 24 is also Voter Registration Day from noon to 4 p.m. in the Administration Offices on State Street.

Please call if you have questions about the proposals or voting procedures: 343-2480, ext. 1000.

School-to-Work Update

BHS Business Teacher and School-to-Work (STW) Coordinator Jillian Thomas provided an update on the STW programs she coordinates: Make a Difference Day, Job Shadows, Career Related Field Trips, and K-12 Junior Achievement.

For the 14th annual Make a Difference Day, 22 nonprofit agencies hosted 170 BHS seniors so that the students could learn about giving back to the community and, for many, explore possible career fields. In addition, by the end of 2013, at least 19 students will have completed job shadows, several classes will have taken career-related field trips such as that taken by AP Biology students to the University of Rochester science labs, and 14 classes will have had a Junior Achievement volunteer come in and teach a business-related lesson.

To provide some examples of the value of STW programs, Thomas provided an opportunity for two students to speak about their experiences. Daemeon Reeves spoke about his job shadow with a State Trooper which reinforced his desire to go into law enforcement, and Jessica Valvano-Hoag spoke about her Careers and Financial Management class (taught by Eileen Ognibene) in which she has learned much about how to pursue a career -- such as how to write a resume, and how to prepare for and conduct oneself in a job interview. Two highlights of her class experience were participating in a mock interview and completing a job shadow with a local photojournalist.

Genesee County Business Education Alliance

Bill Hayes, Business Education Alliance (BEA) board member, reviewed the services provided to the District through the BEA and thanked the District for its continued financial support as well as the guidance and preparation it provides to students in regard to work.

In fulfilling its mission, the BEA fosters a partnership between business and education and assists students in preparing for the world of work through coordinating or participating in such things as: the Business School Interaction Committee; Junior Achievement; mock interviews; job shadows; teacher site visits; students site visits; virtual site visit videos; career speaker luncheons; classroom visits; career fairs and camps; resources and referrals for counselors seeking specific career education and/or employment opportunities for students; and class projects for students that mimic real business interactions.

A few additional District-specific services for Batavia have included assisting with recruiting Senior Exit Project volunteers and judges, and providing mock interviews and job shadows for Eileen Ognibene’s Careers and Financial Management class. The BEA’s programs help the District meet the NYS Learning Standards, particularly in Career Development and Occupational Studies, and they expose students to career opportunities in our own region.

Turning city parks into a more regulated environment didn't go over well with the City Council Monday, which voted to table a resolution that would have added new rules for residents wishing to book large gatherings at park pavilions.

The rules would have banned amplified music, bounce houses and grilling pits.

The council voted 6-3 to table the proposal and have an informal committee of council members meet with City Manager Jason Molino to discuss pavilion rental rules.

"I don’t feel we suddenly need to make changes in our rules and regulations and our application process simply because of a couple of various groups that created some problems," said Councilman John Canale.

Councilman James Russell said further restrictions run counter to the intention of having parks in the first place.

"I think we’re restricting the citizens of Batavia from using the parks for what they were intended to be used for," Russell said.

Council members Kathy Briggs, Tim Buckley and Pier Cipollone voted against tabling the proposal.

Cipollone said he was generally in favor of the rule changes.

"The only one I had any problem with is the amplified music because if I were to have an event there, I would probably want to have music," Cipollone said. "The other items were fine to me."

WBTA contributed to this story.

Press release:

On April 5, the Batavia City School District received notification that a lawsuit was filed by the Empire Justice Center on behalf of a few District parents with the intent to demand an immediate upgrade to the girls’ softball field claiming the District was in violation of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972.

The District believes this lawsuit is misguided as the issues addressed in the lawsuit have already been diligently pursued and we have prepared a proposition for voter approval during the annual District’s budget vote in May 2013.

In 2011, softball field upgrades were included in the District’s capital-improvements project proposal which was ultimately voted down by the taxpayers. Even after the capital improvement proposition was voted down, the District allocated as much funding as possible for material and labor to resurface the girls’ softball infield. In addition, arrangements were made to have nearly half of the home games played at an area premier softball facility, Genesee Community College.

The District also continues to make regular maintenance on this field and whatever improvements it can make within the approved budget. To continue its efforts to upgrade the softball field, in 2012, the District commenced an architectural study to address resurfacing the field, installing dugouts, an electronic scoreboard and outfield fencing. This plan was reviewed and approved by the Board of Education at its Feb.12, 2013 meeting.

A proposal to fund this plan, which also includes capital improvements for District buildings and the Richmond Memorial Library, will be placed on the ballot during the annual vote on the District’s budget on May 21. If the voters approve this capital proposition, the District will initiate the upgrades to the field as outlined above after the softball season ends so as not to disrupt the current season.     

Subsequent to the Board’s approval of the plan, the District received a letter on February 20, 2013 from the Empire Justice Center demanding that the softball field be upgraded immediately. The District met with representatives of the Empire Justice Center to review the matter.

We explained that the requested upgrades in their letter were the same improvements already incorporated into the District’s proposed project with the exception of night lighting. We shared with these representatives that commencing an upgrade immediately was impractical given that the work would render the field unplayable for most of the season as well as that the work was duplicative of that included within the District’s proposed capital project.

Unfortunately, the District’s good-faith efforts in terms of work already done to the field as well as the presentation of comprehensive facility upgrades to the voters for approval in May 2013 were ignored. However, with just a few more months of patience, it is the District’s belief that it will be able to embark on a comprehensive and complete renovation to the softball facilities.

Updated at 5:09 p.m. with additional information.

In December, as the statute of limitations ran out on a set of burglaries in the city, all investigators had was a DNA profile of a suspect, so the Distirct Attorney's Office sought an indictment against the DNA profile.

A man whose DNA matches that profile was recently arrested and he will be arraigned on the three-count indictment in the morning.

The suspect is no longer "John Doe." His name is Samuel G. Malone. He is 27 and most recently a resident of 36 Walnut St., Batavia.

Investigators believe they've found a match with Malone's DNA to the suspect's DNA following Malone's conviction on an unrelated matter.

Malone will be charged with burglaries at the former Ponderosa Steakhouse in August 2008, Mortellaro's Awards, August 2008, and Palace of Sweets, September 2008.

Det. Pat Corona said Malone allegedly made forced entry into the establishments and was looking for whatever cash he could find.

The indictment was for two counts of burglary, 3rd, and one count of attempted burglary, 2nd.

Malone is currently in custody on $25,000 bail pending a bail review in County Court.

Det. Charles Dudek, Det. Todd Crossett and Sgt. Patrick Corona all worked on the case.

Craig Yunker, owner of CY Farms and Batavia Turf, posted this picture to Twitter with the message: "Thieves stole our tractor weights right off our tractor. They look like this. Keep a look out."

Yunker said the weights retail for $3,000.

Tractor weights are used to counter balance whatever a tractor is pulling or lifting.

Tips can be called into the Sheriff's Office at 343-5000.

A disabled tractor-trailer is blocking traffic in the city at Ellicott and Evans streets. Police are on scene.